What's the right way to begin a scenario?

[LucyDuke]

So I got frustrated at the epic game and decided to take a few scenarios out for a spin. Warlords scenarios, but the specifics are really irrelevant. (Tonight, Alexander the Great.)

I never know where to begin! In an epic game, you start with nothing and everything you're working with is something you've built. You plan out the whole thing, you know exactly what each city has and needs and why, and you know what you need to do and when. In a scenario, you've got some troops, but you have no clue where they should be and how many more you need, you've got some buildings in your cities but no way to know how much more development each city needs. You might have wars in progress, but you don't get any pre-war recon, so you're shooting in the dark. Often, I'll pick a few new builds, or send a stack into enemy lands, or whatever, and it'll have been a really bad move, so I'll restart the scenario in frustration. Or, I'll play very cautiously, waiting too long to do anything and getting screwed as a result.

For those of you that play scenarios (and I don't think most people here do (?)), how do you approach this? How much checking up do you do before you start to make your moves? Are you usually successful? What levels can you pull off the various scenarios at?

 

[LucyDuke]

Come on, somebody's gotta have something to say about this...

 

[nullspace]

I don't think there's anything really clever that you can do. Just use the civilopedia to look at the new units, buildings, and civics in the scenario. Study the tech tree to see what useful things you can get to quickly. Use the foreign adviser so you know who your enemies and allies are. Use the score graph to see how your starting military compares to theirs. Try to estimate how much building versus fighting you can do during the turn limit. If you're familiar with the real-life history of the scenario, use that to your advantage. In general, the scenarios aren't too different from the main game, and what you learned there still applies. But you'll have to learn the new details, which is why you should look at all the available information, like the civilopedia.

 

[twansalem]

I find that in general, most scenarios start you off with really underdeveloped cities, specifically little or no production, such as no mines, and very few forges (or very few or no factories in industrial or modern scenarios).

So the first thing I do is check the turn limit of the scenario. If it is a very short scenario (<100 turns), I probably won't play it, as it doesn't give me enough time to develop my cities.

If it is in the 100 to 200 turn range, I usually crank out a couple of workers, and a few forges in my bigger cities, and then start cranking out the units.

If it is a long scenario (>200 turns) I generally go into full blown builder mode for about 50 turns or so, and try to get peace with my opponents as soon as possible, and only really concentrate on taking out my enemies once my infrastructure is in place.

I find that it is very rare for scenarios to give you a large enough standing army to really go into full war mode right away, so even on shorter scenarios I tend not to go into battle right away.

As far as difficulty levels go, I don't like too much of a challenge, as I'm playing the game to relax from a stressful day, not to create more stress, so I usually play the epic game on Noble, and that usually works for most scenarios as well. If it is an overly crowded scenario, I might play it on Warlord, and if there are significant changes to the game mechanics (like the Ghengis Khan or Barbarian scenarios), I'll play them at Warlord as well if I'm playing them for the first time.

And if you're interested in scenarios, I've found that the AD 1640 North America scenario by Ambreville is far better than any of the ones packaged with Warlords.

 

[datachasm]

yea i dont think there is any certain way to tackle a scenario, which is part of what is so brilliant about them. just determine the victory conditions and move towards them. you might find it easier to go in and play 10 rounds and then start over to get an idea of whats going on.

 

[Phoenix1595]

You should play the scenarios like you are buying a car: take one out for a test drive, figure out what you have, what you don't have, etc. Then, play it again from scratch, knowing what you know. The scenarios involve a lot of trial and error, so you might enjoy them more if you play them again after one round.

 

[Quintillus]

Scouting is going to be important in scenarios. There's been times I've been playing a scenario and have sent my army off in one direction only to be invaded from the other direction a few turns later. Sending out a few fast units or exploring the coast can help a lot in figuring out where you're vulnerable, but there's always the chance that the enemy will get a big army in your lands anyway. In that case, it may be best to start over and build up along that border. It's not easy to win a scenario on the first try.

I also would recommend building military units at the start, at least in the border cities, until you have enough troops to fight off an invasion. Like twansalem said, development may then be necessary.

 

[Maydrock]

In the scenerio folder there is a Readme file that will give you hints on what to do.

 

[JavalTigar]

I think Nullspace hit most of the high notes.

You need to research your current situation and cross reference it with the objectives. Do you have a front with an enemy? Is it defended? Can you produce enough troops to hold / reinforce it? Is your economy churning correctly? Can you cut some fat or boost it in some way? Is there a tech that could turn the tide for your situation? How close are you?

I usually spend the first 4 turns with recon and research. Let the AI move his units and watch. It will usually show you quickly where you need to concentrate your efforts.

Good luck.